Snow Falling on Cears is a novel written by American writer David Guterson. Guterson, who at the time was a teacher, wrote the book in the early morning hours over a ten year period. Because of the success of the novel, however, he quit his job and began to write full-time. The novel was published on September 26, 1995, becoming an immediate bestseller and winning that year's PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Influenced by Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Cedars also deals with racism. Cedars was adapted into a film in 1999, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.